Namibia confirms taking equity stake in USD-10bn green H2 project

The government of Namibia has decided to exercise its right to take up a 24% stake in the USD-10-billion (EUR 9.37bn) green hydrogen hub being developed by Hyphen Hydrogen Energy Ltd, whilst the latter has agreed on the creation of a project-related partnership between domestic and Dutch parties.

In a statement on Tuesday, Namibia’s Ministry of Finance and Public Enterprises said that the government has established infrastructure asset manager NH2 Fund Managers and its SDG Namibia One blended financing infrastructure fund. Co-designed by Namibian and Dutch partners, the new fund will focus on raising money, both domestically and internationally, for green hydrogen projects and related infrastructure. With this milestone reached, the government has issued an official notice indicating its decision to make use of its equity interest option.

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Hyphen Hydrogen Energy, a joint venture between Nicholas Holdings Ltd and German renewables developer Enertrag SE, said separately it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Namibia’s government, national port authority NamPort and state-owned electric utility NamPower, as well as with the Port of Rotterdam, Dutch natural gas infrastructure and transportation company Gasunie and development finance institution Invest International to create a partnership for the realisation of the project.

Invest International has agreed to provide EUR 40 million in initial financing to the fund. At the same time, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and Namibia’s government will seek to raise EUR 500 million under a letter of intent (LoI) signed at COP27. A portion of this larger sum will be designated for investment via SDG Namibia One, the announcement says.

Hyphen noted that, alongside NamPort and the Port of Rotterdam, it expects to conclude the development of the new master plan for the port of Luderitz in the coming months. Meanwhile, NamPower and the project developer are looking into the possibility of supplying the excess electricity generated by the hub to the electric utility.

Hyphen’s flagship project envisages the installation of around 3 GW of electrolysis capacity powered by electricity from about 7 GW of renewables. Before the end of the decade, this hub is planned to be able to produce 2 million tonnes of green ammonia a year for regional and global markets.

(USD 1.0 = EUR 0.937)